The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
With the events of Sep. 11, 2001, there has been increased concern with the ability of present systems for providing public service broadcasting of messages and warnings to the public. Existing public service warning systems are antiquated and provide only limited access to the public who may be in need of knowing of potential emergencies or danger. Additionally, existing systems do not provide for location-based notification or broadcasting messages.
As such, there is a need for an improved method and system for providing timely information to the public related to potential hazards affecting them. One suggested solution is the utilization of the subscription-based Short Message Service (SMS) messaging capability for mass messaging using mobile telephones and compatible devices. However, SMS systems and technology have significant technical limitations and experience with such systems has been disappointing due to significant delays in the delivery of SMS messages and negative impacts to the networks due to congestion. Additionally, SMS messaging places a considerable call processing load on the telecommunication system and infrastructure considering that the above process is multiplied by the demand of thousands or tens of thousands of SMS call set up requests at the same time. The potential initiation of broadcast SMS volumes will not only affect network resources for SMS messaging, but also negatively affect ability of the telecommunication networks to set up and support voice traffic during any period of message broadcasting as these resources are shared by both services.
SMS and Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) messaging systems utilize capacity on transmission channels making them unavailable for other purposes such as voice call set up and can only handle a limited number of SMS and/or WAP transmissions. As such, during heavy messaging, the related high volumes of messaging traffic may have a negative affect on other services including the set up of voice calls.
Generally, existing systems are not location-based and as such does not send messages to intended recipients located within a defined geographic location and therefore do not provide an attractive solution to location-based customer notification and other location-based broadcast services.